As part of its serious commitment to space missions, China has reaffirmed its plan to soft land a probe on the far side of the Moon around 2018 and fully launch a Mars probe by 2020. The government has released a white paper that explains how it'll carry out space missions, which will include scientific research, peacefully.

The white paper discussed China's five-year space plan. They largely won't occur in the next five years, but the country also wants to expand its human missions.

China's probe will explore the surface and bring back samples. It'll "conduct research into major scientific questions such as the origin and evolution of the solar system, and search for extraterrestrial life."